GRACE LE
BUILDS IT!
Music To Our Ears
Engage:
Once Upon A Time, there was the Kingdom of Sound, and in this kingdom, you could hear everything. Every sound was beautiful as it should! There was a Princess of Sound and she loved where she ruled. She loved all and every sound she heard. From the tapping of her feet walking to the chews from her mouth. All was good in the Kingdom, until one tragic night. The princess went to bed and as she woke up the next morning, all the sound was gone! She couldn’t hear anything or make any noise. The evil wizard had come and taken all sounds, so not a single soul sound produce any noise. Weeks and weeks went by and the Princess couldn't stand it anymore! So, the princess went about to search for sound. She found an old egg carton in the middle of the woods and opened it up. In it were several “eggs” that when she shook them, she could hear muffled sounds. The wizard had hidden all of the sounds inside the egg and it was her job to release the sounds back to the kingdom. She knew what she had to do. She took the eggs home and listened to them very carefully. After she was able to figure out the sounds, there was a bright light and the eggs cracked, releasing the sound back to the kingdom!
Help Me Figure Out How to Save the Kingdom!
​
Click Here to guess what is inside the eggs!
​
Explore:
We were given a plastic cup and a rubber band to was told to figure out how to make different pitches and volume. After trying out different things, as a class, we noticed that if the rubber band is tight, it has a higher pitch. If the rubber band is loose, it will have a lower pitch. We also noticed the loudness and pitch can be changed by how hard or soft the plucking of the rubber band is. But why? How?
​
Exlain:
What is Sound?
Sound is made up of soundwaves or vibrations that allow us to hear. These soundwaves are created by objects vibrating, moving back and forth really fast. They travel through almost everything! Water, air, solid objects, etc. Some demonstrations we did in class was with a tuning fork in a cup of water, a slinky, and with an oven rack. Each demonstration has us see that vibrations travel through the air that leads to our ears so we are able to listen to things. Another key phrase that we learned that sound can carry through other mediums.
There are different types of pitch, high and low. With each, there will be a different level of frequencies. The low pitch will have big long waves of frequencies versus high pitch will have fast short/small waves of frequencies.
​
Pitch
​
Fast/Frequent
&
Hard
​
Fast/Frequent
&
Soft
Slow
&
Soft
​
Low
​
High
​
Quiet
​
Loud
​
Volume
​
Slow
&
Hard
​
W
​
Expand:
After exploring sound, it's time for us to apply what we have learned. So what kind of instruments can we make that can change pitch and volume? The instrument that I made is a Water-Bottle Membranophone. The items I used to make this is a water bottle, a glove, a rubber band, a card stock paper, and a straw. By changing the volume I will have to use more air to blow into the straw and as for pitch, I poked a hole on the rolled-up card stock to make different pitches.
​
-
More air makes the volume of the instrument louder
-
Less air makes the volume of the instrument quieter
-
The more of the holes are covered, the lower the sound it will become.
-
Fewer holes covered will result in a higher pitch.
​
Here is the website I found to help me make the instrument!
https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/membranophone?activity=139
​
The Trills of Sound
What do you hear?
What do you see?
If you can listen well,
You will hear the trills.
​
Can you hear the lows and highs of the pitch?
By covering the holes on the pipes,
The pitch will be low as can be.
But what happens if the holes aren't covered?
What would that sound like?
​
What do you hear?
What do you see?
If you listen well,
You will hear the trills.
​
Can you hear the difference between sound as I play?
With lots of air versus little air,
The more air I use to blow, the louder it becomes,
Less air equals the softer it gets, you see?
Come, try it out with me!
​
What do you hear?
What do you see?
If you listen well,
You will hear the trills.
​
Here is the discription of my instrument
My poem with Playing!
Evaluate:
Formative evaluation: I would refer to the slinky activity, having them work together to show the difference between the two pitches and what the waves would look like. Once they figured out the difference length and size, they would have to make a chart that shows each pitch and volume. This will show if they understand what they have learned.
Sumative evaluation: Just like what we did, I would have my students create their own musical instrument. As they play their instrument, they can explain sound, pitch, vibration, etc. If they can explain how sound forms and how it travels, they would have truly learned. They can apply it and potentially teach it to their friends!
​
​